AGENCIES RELEASE ASSESSMENT ON PREDATOR CONTROL
AIMED AT HELPING THREATENED SNOWY PLOVERS
Predators have been killing too many Western snowy plovers on the Oregon coast, and the problem seems to be increasing. Biologists say that predation, if unchecked, could prevent the small shorebirds from ever being able to recover from their official status as a threatened species. But a team of state and federal agencies is studying how to slow the losses by controlling predators. An environmental assessment analyzing the effects of predator control methods is now being released for public review and comment.
Four alternative plans are explored in the document, whichever is adopted will be one part of a continuing integrated effort to protect and improve habitat and restore the snowy plover population. The four alternatives are: no action, which would continue the current situation; non-lethal control only; non-lethal control followed by other methods; and the proposed action, an integrated program which would include lethal control. The proposed action would first identify individuals or groups of actual or potential plover predators, and then use the most effective, selective, and humane tools available to deter or remove the predators that threaten snowy plovers.
Interested parties may obtain copies of the document through the Internet, at BLMs Coos Bay District website: http://www.or.blm.gov/coosbay/whatsnew.htm or by contacting Debbie Fairley at Wildlife Services at 503-326-2346. Requests for the document or comments on it can be mailed to Wildlife Services at 6135 N.E. 80th Ave., Suite A-8, Portland, OR 97218, or faxed to the agency at 503-326-2367. Comments must be received by close of business on July 2, 2001.
Snowy plovers are small, pale-colored shorebirds with dark patches on either side of their upper breast. The coastal population breeds along the Pacific coast from southern Washington to southern Baja California, Mexico. This population is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, and as few as 100 of the birds may remain in Oregon. Plovers prefer coastal sand spits, dune-backed beaches and beaches at creek and river mouths. They made the news headlines two years ago, when the New Carissa ran aground on the southern Oregon coast and leaked bunker fuel oil onto the plovers beaches.
Biologists attribute the decline of the species to a combination of interrelated factors, including predation, loss of nesting habitat to development, human disturbance, and European beach grass spreading onto nesting grounds. Studies indicate that from half to two-thirds of this small shorebirds nest failures in recent years have been caused by predators, from crows and ravens to cats and foxes.
The agencies involved in this assessment are those which cooperate to manage plovers and their habitat in Oregon. They include the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, and the Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife, and Parks and Recreation. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services agency also is cooperating.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
